Latest Sightings - August 2024

August sightings, wildlife monitoring and interesting research projects.`

 

Sightings of the month

Thank you to all who recorded their sightings in the book this month! We had 81 recorded sightings, with an average of 2.6 per day. The number of sightings of some species is below:

 

Highlights

The overall number of sightings has decreased from the last few months, but there have been some interesting trends in the predator sightings:

  • There were 24 recorded leopard sightings for the month, totalling 34 leopards.
  • Lion sightings: Twelve sightings, totalling 60 lions.
  • Southern Ground Hornbill sightings have started increasing again, with 2 sightings of the family with the fledgling we ringed earlier in the year.
  • There were 2 cheetahs spotted at Mermaid Crossing! During the sighting, a leopard and a hyena also made an appearance!
  • African Wild Cat, a Lesser Bushbaby/Galago and Side-striped Jackal sightings formed our other mammalian highlights for the month.
  • A large herd of 400+ buffalo has been moving around the property during the month, often followed by the lions.
  • There were 2 recorded Sharpe’s Grysbok sightings on Argyle.
  • General species recorded: Lion, Leopard, Wild Dog, Elephant, Buffalo, Hippo, Genet, African Wild Cat, Vervet Monkey, Chacma Baboon, Lesser Galago, Nyala, Kudu, Bushbuck, Impala, Steenbok, Klipspringer, Spotted Hyena, Tree Squirrel, Dwarf Mongoose, Banded Mongoose, Zebra, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Slender Mongoose, Side-striped Jackal, Springhare, Scrub Hare.
  • Reptilian species: Crocodile, Serrated Hinged Terrapin, Marsh Terrapin, Rainbow Skink, Rock Monitor Lizard and Snouted Cobra.
  • Bird species recorded: Yellow-billed Stork, Verreaux’s Eagle-owl, African Fish Eagle, African Barred Owlet, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Saddle-billed Stork, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Tawny Eagle, African Hawk-eagle, African Harrier-Hawk, Grey Go-away Bird, White-crested Helmet-shrike, Helmeted Guineafowl, Southern Ground Hornbill, Retz’s Helmet-shrike, Long-billed Crombec, Grey Heron, Black Crake, Fork-tailed Drongo and Hooded Vulture.

 

Monitoring an Endangered Species: Southern Ground Hornbill

Earlier in the year we were fortunate enough to discover an active Southern Ground Hornbill nest on Argyle thanks to some very observant Members! With the help of the APNR Ground Hornbill Project, we were able to successfully measure the natural nest cavity, take samples from the juvenile, and ring it for future sightings (see pictures below). We were delighted to find that this was one of the few natural nests used in the area (most birds use the installed artificial nests instead), and blood results showed that the juvenile is most likely a young female.

You’ll be pleased to know that the youngster is doing exceptionally well, having been seen multiple times since fledging, and is still with the family of 4 adults that are raising it. Thank you to everyone who reports sightings of them, and especially to those who share the footage with us - because of you that we can accurately monitor their movements and keep up to date on the condition of the youngster, in particular.

We are coming up to the breeding season once again, and our knowledge of Southern Ground Hornbills indicates that they might use the same nest again, especially if they have had success with that nest before. For this reason, the APNR Ground Hornbill Project came in to install a fixed camera trap at the nest in the hopes that the family will use the same nest again. They also installed an eye button to measure and record the temperature inside the nest throughout.

This was not an easy task, as the nest is high up and there were not very many natural branches available to attach a camera trap to, but with some hard work and determination the team managed to install a camera trap successfully! If the birds choose to use this nest again, the camera trap will offer valuable insight on Southern Ground Hornbills, and possibly even shed some light on the more intricate details, such as potential feeding preferences and frequencies, and even patterns that may be in place within the family group.

Being a natural nest, this is also a rare opportunity to capture footage of the Ground Hornbills using a natural nest, hopefully from start to finish! Thank you to Carrie and the APNR Ground Hornbill Project for providing such a unique opportunity for our team, and thanks to the Conservation team for assisting with the installation. We can’t wait to see what the outcome is!

 

Sightings from the Camera Trap

It’s been a while since we shared some images from camera traps, so here are some highlights from the area near Farmhouse Crossing and in camp:

Image 2: young hyena sniffing the camera. Image 4: porcupine in camp.

 

 

Words by Tess Woollgar, images courtesy of Gareth Owens, Frank & Maria Hurst, Josh Hibbett & Tess Woollgar

 


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